Tiered Display Stand From a Cardboard Box

For an upcoming market at our local shopping mall I needed a way to display my greeting cards. Since I'm a big fan of reusing materials I didn't feel like buying a display stand or card mill. I decided to take a cardboard box that could fit at least a couple cards next to eachother and turn it into a professional looking display stand in just a couple hours using only basic tools and supplies.

This project requires very little supplies and only basic tools that most people will have at home.

Supplies needed:

1. A cardboard box that is big enough to hold whatever you want to display and high enough to make a second (or third) tier. Choose one that has no text or logos on the outside.
2. Optional: toilet rolls, to use as supports for the tiers. This makes the construction a bit easier and can be needed when you're showcasing heavier products.

Tools needed:

1. A box cutter or craft knife
2. A cutting mat
3. A hot glue gun or craft glue
4. A pencil or pen
5. A ruler
6. Optional: double sided tape

The most important thing to make this look fancy enough to place at a craft show or market is to cut neatly and precise and to keep the box clean and undamaged. The easiest way to make the display is to use the box's original size. This means we can use the box's own stability and we get a clean look on the outside.

As this project is meant to be about reusing a box you have lying around I'm not going to give exact measurements, since yours will be different anyway.

I chose to keep an edge on the front of about 2 inches or 50mm and used the entire height of the box, which was about 9 inches or 220mm tall. This way I could fit a second tier in about halfway up so I could place 2 rows of greeting cards and still be able to see most of the cards without them falling over.

Start by marking the outline of your display on the outside of the box and make sure it lines up neatly on the other side.

Cut off the flap on the top side to make it easier to cut the rest of the box in the next step. Don't throw away this piece, we will be needing it later!

Carefully cut the 3 marked lines on the sides and front of your box and make sure it's all clean cut with no ragged edges. You should end up with the basic shape of the display stand and a spare piece that we will be using later.

Usually cardboard boxes don't have a nice flat bottom and we don't want our products to stand at an angle so we need to fix this. Luckily we can use some of the leftover material to create a flat surface.

Take one of the sides and mark the gap on the bottom of your box on both the back and the front to make sure it fits very neatly. Cut out the shape and try it without glue to make sure it fits.

Use glue or double sided tape to fix the piece in place. I used double sided tape because it's easy and fast. Placing the tape halfway under the flaps you can fix both the extra piece and the existing flaps to the bottom flap. (I know there are a lot of flaps in that sentence)

What you should end up with is a nice and flat surface for your products to be placed upon. A flat surface also makes it easier to decorate with a more fancy material later if you want.

Remember that flap from the top of the box that we saved for later? Take that piece of cardboard and test-fit it inside the box. It should fit perfectly inside. Place it at the bottom and mark the edge with a pencil or pen.

For this part you have a couple options:

1. I used toilet rolls to create a level support to place the second tier on. Because the toilet rolls were the right height this worked perfectly for me. If you want a different height for your display stand, you can use kitchen paper rolls and cut them to size for example. The added advantage of this is that there is no need to glue the sides and get blobs of glue in view.
2. Another way to do this is simply glue the cardboard in place using a hotglue gun. Just put glue on the three sides and hold it in place for a few seconds and it will be fixed. Marking the inside of the box at the desired height will make it easier to place the cardboard at the correct spot.

Using toilet rolls was a quick and easy method. Simply glue the rolls somewhere near the middle of the space where the second tier will go and wait for the glue to dry. With hotglue this only takes a few seconds. Then put glue on the top of the toilet rolls and quickly place the cardboard on top, making sure it fits inside the corners neatly.

The last part consists of placing the front of the second tier. Using the large rectangular piece of the box that we cut off earlier, mark the height at which you want to cut this piece. Just place it against the second tier and mark where the edge meets the side of the box. Do this on both sides and connect the marks with a ruler and pencil. Cut the piece to size and glue it in place. Use the mark on the bottom we made earlier to allign the front so it sits straight up and not at an angle (unless that is what you want of course).

And with that final piece your display stand is finished. Make sure the glue is set and you trim of any ragged edges and it's ready to fill with your choice of product to sell or display.

If you want your stand to have more than two tiers, simply repeat steps 4 and 5 with the desired measurements. Start at the back with the highest tier and work your way to the front for the lowest tier.

This part is entirely optional and completely personal so do what you feel fits with the purpose of your display stand. Leave it 'natural' and go for the crafty-cardboard-look or add as much decoration as you like.

To create a more stylized display stand for my greeting cards I added a ribbon of images of my own card designs all the way around the box.. err.. display stand ;)

I used Adobe InDesign to place all the images within the measurements of the display and made sure the edges connected seamlessly. I printed the files and cut them out by hand with a box cutter. I used double sided tape to place them on the display, starting at the front to make sure that piece was alligned perfectly. I placed the back side last because that's the least visible part. I also ended up adding some price information and QR codes linking to my socials to the sides.

And that's it! Now we can only hope this display stand will do its job at the upcoming market and sell some greeting cards :)

Let me know what you think and don't forget to share pictures of your version if you decide to make one !